Morphological and molecular characteristics of seven Sarcocystis species from sika deer (Cervus nippon centralis) in Japan, including three new species

Publication date: Available online 9 October 2019Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and WildlifeAuthor(s): Niichiro Abe, Kayoko Matsuo, Junji Moribe, Yasuhiro Takashima, Takao Irie, Takashi Baba, Bjørn GjerdeAbstractSamples of diaphragm were collected from 53 sika deer from Gifu Prefecture, Japan; 220 sarcocysts were isolated, examined in wet mounts and classified according to their cyst wall protrusions. The sarcocysts were then examined molecularly in order to assign them to different species. All but 11 of the 220 sarcocysts were initially identified by means of a multiplex PCR assay targeting cox1 of five species, whereas the remaining 11 sarcocysts were identified by standard PCR and sequencing. DNA from selected sarcocysts was used for PCR amplification and sequencing of cox1 (59 sequences) and 18S rDNA (23 sequences). The 220 sarcocysts comprised seven major cox1 sequence types or species. Types 4 and 7 were assigned to the known species Sarcocystis pilosa and Sarcocystis ovalis, whereas types 1, 3 and 5 were considered to represent three new species, for which the names Sarcocystis japonica, Sarcocystis matsuoae and Sarcocystis gjerdei have been proposed. Types 2 and 6 were most similar to Sarcocystis tarandi and Sarcocystis taeniata, respectively, but could not be unequivocally assigned to these species. Sarcocysts belonging to S. japonica were macroscopic with fairly thick finger-like protrusions, whereas most sarcocysts of the six other spec...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife - Category: Parasitology Source Type: research